Our World

McDonald's & Globalization

I found this really interesting site about McDonald's and its affects on our world. It's cleverly written and gives you plenty of information (and as an added bonus: humor). It states that McDonald's is a prime example of cultural imperialism. This means that is actively promotes one cultural system at the expense of another. It has dominated and influenced many other cultures. For example, in Asia the restrooms used to be unkept and dirty. However, once McDonald's emerged higher cleanliness standards were established. In Korea,the tradtion of ordering food was wild madness with people pushing and shoving. When McDonald's golden arches arrived,a new system of waiting in line was introduced. The affect on Russia was kind of funny..."When the first McDonald’s was opened in Moscow, it was necessary for an employee to stand outside the McDonald’s with a blow horn in order to explain to those in the queue that the smiling employees were not laughing at them but, rather, were pleased to serve them."
Although many people believe McDonald's is homogenizing global culture, others feel it "works to appeal to the unique local tastes and customs of people around the world."
What do you think?
This site:
McCulture
Or check out the anti-McDonald's site which gets 1 million hits per month.
McSpotlight

posted by Anonymous @ 2/05/2006 01:41:00 PM